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The good, bad and the hypocritical tax bill

The latest tax cut plan can be labeled The Good, The Bad and The Hypocrisy.

I am defining good and bad using statements published by non-partisan financial or government agencies and right-leaning publications and economists.

The reference point of how good or how bad the tax bills vary a bit by each source and also day by day as the bills keep getting adjusted or tweaked. However, in general they all say that decreasing the cooperate tax rate will be good for the economy. Even the most progressive leaning economists agree with this point.

The left feels the cut is too deep and the right seem pretty happy with the major cut. They all agree that cutting taxes for the middle class is a good thing for the individual families and the economy.

The bad thing is there is very little agreement on how much or even if there will be much of a cut for the middle class. Most agree the middle class will see about a $1,200 decrease in the first year, which gives a family of four about $25 extra each week in their pay check. This is not quite enough to take the family out to McDonalds for dinner.

Unfortunately, as the years proceed, the data get more confusing depending on the source but the picture gets grimmer for the average American. Even small businesses do not benefit nearly as much from these cuts as the big corporations do. Further, the tax loopholes that were supposed to be cut for the high earners and corporations somehow were forgotten to be included in the Senate and House bills.

Our Republican representatives in Congress, including Doug LaMalfa, did remember to cut three very big “loopholes” for the average American. They are eliminating our write-off for our state and local taxes, our write-off for medical expenses, and write-off for college tuition. They are also decreasing write-offs for interest on mortgages, but that is mostly for higher cost homes.

There are two major hypocrisies this bill reveals about the Republicans in Congress. First, this bill is being touted as a once-in-a-generation tax reform, but they have not had even a single public hearing on these bills. They often criticized the Democrats on speeding through Obamacare, a once-in-a-generation healthcare reform, even though there were several weeks of public hearings.

The stated reason they have to go fast is to prevent special interest lobbies from putting too much influence onto the final draft of the bill. So, they are saying they and their colleagues do not have the strength of character or morale fortitude to say no to the lobbyists. This is a good reason to rush this through?

The bigger hypocrisy is they are very willing to expand the deficit by over $1.4 trillion when they blocked nearly all legislation when proposed by Democrats, which added to the deficit.

I have an idea, which is not new, but hasn’t been tried in years. If we have learned anything from the Obamacare difficulties it is that any big legislation works better if compromises are made about competing ideas before the legislation is passed. Yes, I am suggesting you take your time and develop a plan that has support from the majority of both parties, not barely a majority by the party in power.

When you have made the tax code simple enough for corporations and small businesses to fill out their tax return on a post card, then you will have something to crow about.